Ministry Of Lands, Survey and Solid Minerials
Headed By: Martin Shaager
Address: BENGIS Service Centre, Ministry of Lands, Survey and Solid Minerals
PMB 102040, Markurdi, Benue State Nigeria.
The Benue State Ministry of Lands and Survey came on board in the year 2000 during the administration of Governor George Akume. It was named the Bureau of Lands and Survey under the Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport with a Permanent Secretary as its chief executive.
The mandate of Benue State Ministry of Lands and Survey is to administer land for mutual use and benefit of all the citizens of Benue State and indeed beyond.
The ministry functions under three (3) professional or technical departments of lands, town planning, and survey.
The department of administration and finance coordinates the activities of these professional department to enhance greater productivity.
Town Planning Department
It undertakes distinct but complementary functions, with other departments of the ministry, which are geared towards towards the realization of the ministry’s set objectives.
These include:
- Identification of land for planning purposes.
- Earmarking of sites for projects.
- General land use planning such as master plans, upgrading and renewal schemes and detailed land use planning such as preparation of layouts.
- Development control and regulation.
- Formulation of planning policies and standard of Benue State.
- Rural planning, that is, planning of all towns and villages in Benue State outside the designated urban areas.
- Assist Benue State Local Government councils in planning their settlements.
The Survey Department
The survey department is one of the three technical departments of the ministry, charged with the responsibility of acquiring and analysing raw data from the field for cadastral purposes, and other land administration.
The functions include:
- Cadastral data collection.
- Analysis, storage and retrieval.
- Map making.
- Boundary making.
- Land based and geographical data collection.
Land Department
As the name implies, is the brain box of the ministry. Charged with the following responsibilities:
- Receiving and processing of appointments for lands, other grants such as licenses, leases, and further ensuring land allocation to deserving applicants.
- Handling issues of valuation for purposes of compensation, rental, capital and so on.
- Registration of all land documents and transaction such as titles, mortgages, assignment, leases and so on.
- Handling court cases pertaining to titles.
- The department also looks at issues connected to land administration such as taxes,rent and property rates.
- Serves as the secretariat of the land of the use allocation committee, LUAC.
- Overseas property rating and collection of rates in the state by the property rating unit, PRU.
- Acquisition of land for various uses by government and for distribution to members of the public.
- Serves on committees for land acquisition and allocation for various local governments in Benue State.
The Department Of Administration And Finance
The department is made-up of administration, finance and store units. It’s saddled with the responsibility of coordinating the activities of the three (3) other technical departments for efficient and smooth running of the ministry.
It is also responsible for the collection of revenue derived from the ministry for the government, this include:
- Survey fee.
- Deeps registration and execution.
- Documentary registration and search fees.
- Application fee for plot allocation
- Rent on certificate of occupancy, C of O.
- Sublease, that is assignments and mortgage
Staff Welfare
The ministry processes and recommends staff for promotion.
It trains and retains staff.